BMW ON THE BACK FOOT

Financial

Revenue for the nine months of 2018 to date fell by 9.3% to £1.449bn. Operating profit suffered a 26.2% plunge to £182m and operating margin deteriorated from 15.4% to 12.5%. Pre-tax profit was 27% down at £179m.

As previously reported, global retail sales during the period slipped by a marginal 0.8% to 126,793 motorcycles and maxiscooters. Deliveries to European customers dropped by 5.8% to 77,788. Within that, Germany was 12.8% in arrears to 17,798. France retreated by 4.4% to 12,955. Italy lost 2.7% to 11,827. Spain copped a more minor 1.2% fall at 8179. UK sales were 5.5% down to 7655.

Perhaps surprisingly, given a 4.2% decline in the US over-250cc market, the brand sold 10,581 bikes to Americans, an increase of 3.7%.

In the third quarter, revenue dropped by 7% to £416m. Operating and pre-tax profits posted respective dives of 37.7% to £29m and 41.5% to £27m. Operating margin sank from 10.4% to 6.9%. However, quarterly retail sales revived slightly, 1% up to 39,818.

Production dropped by 14.8% to 125,180 units over the nine months and 10.3% to 37,172 in the third quarter. BMW claimed this was due to model changes in its middleweight Adventure segment and knocked-on to affect turnover and earnings.